Control/Dimming - Electrical Connection for a Dimmer Rack

[arfinator]

Hey, everyone!

I haven't posted on here in forever due to my extraordinarily high school workload, but now, I am back, in search of help. My school is hosting a fashion show at an older venue in downtown Phoenix.

I had a meeting with the owner / manager with the facility (who is apparently quite busy and can't be bothered for a meeting more than a week in advance of the event, but alas.) I mentioned what I might be able to use in order to light the space, and we came to the following conclusions:

My school owns an ETC Sensor+ 24 Dimmer Rack that I can use. The facility has this for a disconnect:



And this is what brings me to my question. I have never attempted to connect a dimmer to one of these connections for a disconnect, and was wondering what I might be able to use to connect it. I know that the dimmer rack has the Cam-Lok connections for power, but is there an adapter from this 220 volt cable to Cam-Lok?

Or is there another way? Any ideas??

Thank you all very much in advance for your help! I know that I can always rely on you guys to figure out my problems. :-)

Hess Smith

[avkid]

You'll need to rent a proper breakout box.
Many construction rental places and of course theatre rental houses have them.

[arfinator]

What exactly is a breakout box?

[waynehoskins]

That's a single phase connector, right? Doesn't look like it'll carry a lot of current. That may likely be problematic. This is where you really need somebody with knowledge and experience to do whatever tie-in you need, or at least to help scope it out and say "we can't use the electricity here because it's delta power". Or in this case, looks to be single phase, which may as well be delta power.

[arfinator]

That connection reminded me, when I held it, of the 220volt connector that ovens & washers & dryers connect to. So i figure it might be sufficient. There are also 2 of those coming out of the breaker box, each with their own breaker. There are also 2 outlets of the same type.

A little research on a breakout box provided me with this:

A breakout box is a device in which a multi-cable electric line is split into its component cables in order to allow for testing or signal enhancement.

Which leads me to believe that it might remedy the single phase issue. (I might be lying here, I really don't have any idea if that definition leads me to anything useful, but nonetheless). If a connect a brekout box to that connection, and the dimmer to the breakout box, might a be able to get it to work?

I will ask my ME at the theatre I work at tomorrow, and I hope that it will work. If not, I will be forced to use edison adapters and have a static lighting situation. Which definitely wouldn't be the most preferable situation, but it wouldn't be the worst one. At least the models will be seen, and I can make it look semi-interesting.

Randomly related question: Am I able to connect a sensor + dimmer to edison outlets?

Thank you, once more. You both have been fantastically helpful--enlightening me more than I ever would have been able to figure out by myself.

[avkid]

Single Phase 250V
Commonly called a "California" connector.
It resembles a pin out twist lock except for the round pin protruding from the center.

The breakout is also commonly known as a spiderbox in the construction world.
It would look something like this, except with Cam-Lok outputs.

[arfinator]

Okay, that makes sense. I have three questions, though.

What purpose does the pin in the center serve? (Here is my assumption, please correct me, though: The pin would be a ground, the port at the top of my picture [the one that is like a rectangle with a square at one end would be neutral, and the two others would be the hot lines.)

Would that breakout box be rentable through a production rental company, and about how much would that cost to rent for like 2 days?

[waynehoskins]

Center pin is ground, and then you've got two phases and neutral. I'd guess it might be good for 50 amps at the most, maybe as little as 30. Actually, the minimum of what the connector's rated for, what the cable's rated for, and the breakers feeding it.

But your Sensor rack is going to want more than 100 amps three-phase. That's 100 amps per phase, three phase 120/208Y. There you have a service that's, giving it the benefit of the doubt, 50 amps single phase, being 50 amps per phase, two phases. 100 amps total service, where you need 300 amps total service at least.

And no, you cannot cannot tie a bunch of Edison outlets together as feeders into your rack. God, no. Just asking the question gives us good reason to say STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND HAVE A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN WHO KNOWS ENTERTAINMENT LIGHTING HANDLE THIS.

[arfinator]

Originally Posted by waynehoskins

And no, you cannot cannot tie a bunch of Edison outlets together as feeders into your rack. God, no. Just asking the question gives us good reason to say STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND HAVE A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN WHO KNOWS ENTERTAINMENT LIGHTING HANDLE THIS.

I am not saying that I am going to go right out and shove this into my dimmer, and I do intend to go to someone who knows what they are talking about. Right now, however, I am just doing research to figure out if this is at all possible, which with your post, it seems that it is not possible.

The ME at that theatre mentioned a while ago a dimmer that could power maybe 4 500W fixtures with two Edison connections on different circuits. I was merely referencing that point to see if it was possible with this dimmer rack.

Thank you for your fear of what I might do, with just some information--I know too well of people trying to accomplish more than they know, and I won't be one of those people. I am still a student trying to figure everything out, and I won't act until I have the approval and go-ahead from someone who knows what they are doing.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by arfinator

I am not saying that I am going to go right out and shove this into my dimmer, and I do intend to go to someone who knows what they are talking about. Right now, however, I am just doing research to figure out if this is at all possible, which with your post, it seems that it is not possible.

The ME at that theatre mentioned a while ago a dimmer that could power maybe 4 500W fixtures with two Edison connections on different circuits. I was merely referencing that point to see if it was possible with this dimmer rack.

Thank you for your fear of what I might do, with just some information--I know too well of people trying to accomplish more than they know, and I won't be one of those people. I am still a student trying to figure everything out, and I won't act until I have the approval and go-ahead from someone who knows what they are doing.

it is possible to switch a sensor 24 pack over to single phase, you can do some research on how to do this if you choose. My suggestion though, go rent some shoebox dimmers and use those. You will have a much safer installation and also have much less chance of blowing your feeder circuits. You need to figure out what those plugs are actually wired to and what they are rated at. If you get the right person in there, it might be possible to actually tie in the sensor rack.